1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle door mirror with a small dead angle. More specifically, the invention relates to a door mirror with a small dead angle which makes it possible to easily see areas where the right and left front and rear wheels of a vehicle are touching the ground that could not been seen with the conventional door mirrors, and to easily observe the horizontal forward direction on the side of a vehicle front passenger seat at the time of passing another car ahead by manipulating buttons at the driver's seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A variety of contrivances have heretofore been proposed to decrease dead angles of a vehicle door mirror from the standpoint of safety.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 116568/1993 discloses a device for changing the visual field of a rearview mirror by turning at least one of either the right door mirror or the left door mirror by a required angle in a direction in which the dead angle will be eliminated based upon a control signal output from a control means in response to at least either an on-signal or an off-signal from a turn signal lamp switch of a vehicle (or in response to an on-signal from a reverse gear detection switch).
According to this disclosure, the mirror automatically returns back to the original position after use. However, the door mirror is not allowed to swivel, which does not take into account a change in the position of the eyes when the car is driven by a different driver. Also, when traveling forward, the movement of the mirror is triggered by the on-signal of the turn signal lamp switch; i.e., the areas of dead angles come into a visual field after the turn signal is output. When driving into a travel lane from a ramp on an expressway or when changing lanes in an ordinary manner, therefore, the turn signal is flashed first without observing the rear view. This invites danger in that the vehicle may be struck from the rear by a succeeding car. Also, it could happen that the distances to the succeeding cars were incorrectly recognized, since the visual field obtained in this state was different from the visual field obtained at an ordinary position.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 191349/1994 proposes a rearview mirror that eliminates dead angles, according to which when it is attempted to enter into, or come out from, a garage or a parking area, the visual field near the rear wheels is maintained by moving mirrors that are remotely controlled by electricity, hydraulic pressure or pneumatic pressure. According to this proposal, however, the moving mirrors move by only a small amount. Moreover, in the case of a car with a right-side steering wheel, it is impossible to watch the front left wheel from the driver's seat. In addition, fine adjustment cannot be accomplished to correspond with the position of the driver's eyes.
In Japan, the U.K., and some other countries, cars keep to the left and have a steering wheel on the right side of the car. However, many imported cars manufactured in foreign countries still have a steering wheel on the left side. When used, for example, in Japan, cars with a left-side steering wheel have a demerit in that difficulty is involved in passing another car ahead particularly in oncoming traffic lane. If the right-side mirror could be automatically controlled to a preset position where it faces forward in a horizontal direction and if the horizontal forward view could be seen, then, the presence of the oncoming cars can be easily confirmed without the risks of moving into the right lane to an excess degree. It is then made possible for a driver of a car with a left-side steering wheel to safely Pass the car ahead. With the conventional simply constructed remotely-controlled door mirror, however, a lot of time is needed for adjusting the mirror position, and the door mirror cannot be quickly moved to an angle for seeing the horizontal forward view in a "one-touch" operation and cannot be quickly returned back to the initial position. The same problem holds true for the cars with right-side steering wheels when they are used in countries where the traffic rule requires cars to keep to the right.
In an attempt to provide a wide-view door mirror that is very useful for vehicles in garages and parking areas, and for moving the vehicles back and forth on very narrow roads, the present inventors have conducted careful studies and have arrived at the present invention after experimenting with structures and methods, such as sliding the door mirror itself along a support arm that extends in the direction of width of the car and digitally setting the directions in advance.